Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/286

 242 RELIGION OF BALI. another prince of the same family. I am satis- lied, from the conversations which I held on this subject with some Mahomedans of Bali, whom I met in Java, that no compulsion is used on these occasions, but abundance of over-persuasion and delusion. From some circumstances connected with this strange custom, I am strongly inclined to believe that it was not entirely of foreign origin, but an original custom of the Indian islanders modified by the Hindus. The practice of sacrificing the living in honour of the dead, it must be recollect- ed, is not an arbitrary institution of Hindustan, but has been found to obtain in other parts of the world where priestcraft or despotism have assumed an early empire. The sacrifice, it may be observ- ed, is performed, only in honour of a chief ; — his fe- male domestics in numbers sacrifice themselves as well as his wives ; — and the genuine name of the Hindu sacrifice is confined to the former, while the name of the latter is a native term imply- ing retaliation or retribution, in strict conformity with one of the most prevailing sentiments of the human mind in the earliest stages of social exist- ence. A similar institution, under a similar name, prevailed in Java before the conversion, and I have no doubt that one parallel to that of the Natchez of America prevailed, very generally, in 11